Dead Frequency

By: Cal Merritt

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

On Day 22 of a routine winter survey at a remote Chilean telescope, radio astronomer Joel Carver flags an anomaly at 1420 megahertz and goes to sleep.

He probably shouldn't have gone to sleep.

The signal has been broadcasting from inside our own solar system for ten thousand years. It contains prime numbers, a map of the solar system, and the precise orbital data for two inbound objects — both artificial, both aimed at Earth, both arriving in eighteen months.

Joel has weeks to verify the discovery, decode the message, and make the case to a skeptical world that what's coming isn't a catastrophe.

It's a delivery.

Working alone at 4,800 meters with failing equipment, dwindling fuel, and the growing awareness that he is the only person on Earth who understands what is about to happen, Joel must decode a signal layered with engineering blueprints, a stellar catalog, and a letter addressed personally to whoever was smart enough to find it.

The clock is running. The objects are coming.

And somewhere in the Atacama desert, a man who took a winter posting to get over a divorce is about to become the most important radio astronomer in human history.

Dead Frequency is a propulsive, scientifically grounded first-contact thriller for readers who loved The Martian and Project Hail Mary — and who believe that the most extraordinary thing in the universe might be patience.